Linda Delaney: AHCA or American Health Cruelty Act

May 4 will go into the history books as the day a slim majority of Republicans in the House of Representatives voted for a devastating piece of legislation without,

• having read the bill

• knowing the cost of the bill

• knowing how many millions will lose health insurance.

Then they bused over to the White House for a celebration/photo op to mark their success in sending the Senate a bill they know will never pass.

Recommended Stories For You

They call the bill the American Health Care Act (AHCA) but it is more about cruelty than care. The last minute amendment that saved the vote solves nothing for the public.

States can apply for waivers to assist coverage for pre-existing conditions but the money is not nearly enough to cover the need and puts millions at risk of death. Most anything that has ever happened to you can be a pre-existing condition. I looked up a few but the list is so long it would take an entire page in fine print to list them.

Suffice it to say, we all know and care about someone who has such a condition and probably can be pushed into a pre-existing pool ourselves. Did you realize acne and depression are on the list? Interestingly enough, prostate cancer and erectile dysfunction are not on the list.

Women and children seem to be the biggest losers in the current version of the AHCA. Any birth defect, even those that can be corrected, count as a pre-existing condition. Among the most heinous pre-existing conditions are treatment for rape, sexual assault and domestic violence.

Contraception, postpartum depression, cesarean sections and various menstruation problems are on the list, and Planned Parenthood is defunded. Also, companies can deny coverage for gynecological services and mammograms.

This vote was purely political. The phone lines for our 3rd Congressional District Representative Scott Tipton were jammed for days before the vote asking him to vote no. He claimed to be “undecided” until the last minute but, instead of recording constituent opposition to the bill, his staff was delivering a canned lecture on the virtues of the bill. Predictably, Tipton voted yes.

Now the bill has gone to the Senate. Right now we must start contacting Senator Bennet and Senator Gardner immediately and tell them to vote no on TrumpCare.